Steelies Posted January 28, 2015 Posted January 28, 2015 I'm not sure how the pros do it but here's how i made bumps in steel if you're interested. step 1 - own three cars that all need floor repairs. step 2 - read the internet needed a floor panel for the wagon. measure up, choose swage positions and mark out. testing. using a 1200mm foot guillotine and 1200mm finger folder, both in ok condition. i made two folds in the steel both the same way, then bent the sheet back to 'straight'. it bent between the two folds, giving me the bump. close enough is good enough do em all the same as above in the folder use the folder to clamp the swages at the outer edges flat. sheet warped like a pringle. not sure if you're allowed to do this with a folder. the warp is because the outer border of the panel is larger than the inner area, as i've shrunk the inner area by using up material to make the swages. the outer needs to be shrunk to compensate. shrinking - heat it up, cool it quickly with water/wet rag. hammer flat, trim down to size. soft hammer on anvil - didnt want to thin the steel any, which would do the opposite of shrinking. did both sides. shrink again, hammer flat again. encouraging the swages to be more how i like. hammers, bits of scrap, as you see. anvil, saw horses etc. quick squirt of flat black and a check to see if it's working: trim again, finish up and couple of mild folds down the edges to encourage the edges into straight. in place - still a bit of a warp, but metal hot glue will hold it right. well it's no chip foose but good enough to fill a hole in a 50 yr old floor. thought i'd write it up cos it was surprisingly easy and yall may need to do similar next wof! last time i was cutting and welding the ends of the swages and they were all over the show. turns out patience, fire and hammers were the key. Talk about it here
tortron Posted January 30, 2015 Posted January 30, 2015 Just saw steelies's write up and am impressed with the results. However what if you want to swage panels but dont have access to a sheet bender. Well im sure most of us have a hammer in our tool box someplace. Heres how you do some caveman metal work. Equipment you will need Hammer or heavy mallet hacksaw/grinder a wood router is nice to have for this but not essential what you do get your piece of sheet metal and mark out where the swages need to be. Get some rod of the diameter you want the swages to be, the swage will come out slightly larger than the rod. Steel ideally, wood is a bit soft but will work for one or two till you destroy it. Cut the rod to length and round the ends off. If you dont they will cut.through the sheet. Again the swage will come out a little longer than the rod. Get a flat surface you can lay the sheet on. Wood is great, you will need to cut or use the router to make a furrow slightly larger than the rod. Ideally you want to be able to clamp the sheet flat to this. Use clamps and some 2x4 on either side of the swage to keep it perfectly flat and aligned. You can get away without this if you really want, have seen it done by standing on the metal over a cut in some concrete. Hammer your rod into the divot Job done another way to do this is to place the sheet over the rod, and using a wide flat blunt chisel to hammer along the edges. This doesnt come out as nice, but will do the job Your pal Tortron P.S. Could mention that this way you can hammer in fun shapes like W and circles or whatever found this vid. similar to what i said
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